Students bring Honk! to the stage in Lichfield

Students in Lichfield are bringing a hidden gem of musical theatre to the stage.

The Friary School’s production of Honk! runs from November 24 to 27 and features a 130-strong cast.

The show will be directed by Dan Branch who admits that the show is a “gamble” but believes the talented youngsters have what it takes to make it pay off.

He explained:

“There has been a mixed reception to the idea of this production – the most common objection is that people haven’t heard of it. But seeing something new and relatively untried is – for me – just as exciting as humming along to old favourites in a musical that I have seen numerous times before, especially if I leave the auditorium knowing I have discovered a future classic.

“Honk! has certainly been a gamble and an experiment. The characters and songs were not familiar to the cast, therefore we had to start from scratch. Unlike most musicals, Honk! doesn’t have a well-designed set that we can hire for a fortnight, therefore we had to design and make one ourselves. The show doesn’t have clear-cut ideas for costuming that I can pass on to costume hire so we created, made and pieced them together ourselves.

“All-too-often musical productions are flat-pack theatre without much creative thought, you get them out of the box and assemble for use. Honk! is something very different, as this version of the production is completely unique to The Friary.”

Honk! was written in 1993 by George Stiles and Anthony Drew and is loosely based upon the Hans Christian Anderson classic The Ugly Duckling. Since opening in the late 1990s the show has had more than 4,000 productions worldwide and it also won the 2000 Olivier Award for Best Musical, beating both The Lion King and Mamma Mia!

Tickets are £9 with concessions available. To book visit www.friaryshop.com or visit the school’s reception.

1 Comment

Holly E

23rd November, 2010 at 6:20 pm

The show is really good and we had a dress rehearsal for it today. Its really funny and it has a snow machine, a revolving stage and a kazoo orchestra! Please come because we really need to boost ticket sales.